Happy Father’s Day to all those that have cared for, taught, and protected young beings!
Today I have a picture of my garden, where I have planted pumpkin, onions, and basil.
I did not plant the corn. I think the squirrels have been helping.
No sign of pumpkin fruit yet, but the vines seem happy.
I was gifted a sprouting mother leaf of an African violet from a dear friend. Turns out that the mother leaf sprouted six new plants. When they had grown for awhile, I separated them out into individual temporary pots, but was unsure where to go next. When cleaning up the back porch I found six little pots that I loved, but didn’t have a use for, so they were sitting outside. Huzzah! I cleaned them up and bought liners so I could bottom water the violets.
The liners didn’t go all the way to the bottom of the pots, so I found some watering wicking rope to help keep the water from pooling on the bottom.
Then I repotted all the plants into their new homes.
When it comes time to water, I’ll lift out the liner and put water in the bottom of the pot. The technique has been working well for my snake plant!
I’m trying something. I buried a terra cotta pot in my garden because I’ve noticed that the baked clay changes color when it is wet, and it is porous, so if it is wet on one side, it looks wet on the other side. I’m using this feature to tell if the ground is wet in my garden. I tend to overwater, and this might convince me to give the watering a rest.
I’m testing it this summer, and have witnessed the terra cotta indicator as pictured above and all the plant leaves in fully hydrated form, not wilted. I did refrain from watering.
I’m glad I found the harvest apron when I went out to the cucumber patch and coop. I hadn’t been out in a couple days and I found 5 cucumbers and three eggs!
We planted a Turks cap shrub, which is another Texas native, in our front flower bed this Spring. So far it is thriving and just started producing flowers.
Depending on how much the shrub loves the corner we’ve given it, it could fill the space. We’ll see. I’ve read that they usually are 2-3 feet wide and tall, but can reach 10 feet.
Critters and Craft 